Anthony Gilberthorpe, a former antiques dealer, was paid thousands of pounds by a tabloid newspaper in 2014, for a story in which he claimed to have supplied cabinet ministers with underage boys for sex parties in the 1980s.

The 56-year-old said the drug fuelled orgies had taken during the Conservative Party conferences between 1981 and 1984 and were attended by a string of high profile figures.

Mr Gilberthorpe, who would have been a teenager himself at the time, claimed he had scoured the streets of Blackpool and Brighton for rent boys, before taking them back to the main conference hotel where they had sex with male politicians including members of Margaret Thatcher’s cabinet.

On one occasion he claimed the sex party took place in the hotel’s swimming pool with participants taking large quantities of cocaine.

The extraordinary claims, which appeared in a Sunday newspaper, were widely dismissed, when they first published with critics pointing out the hotel where the Prime Minister stayed during the party conference was always crawling with police, security, journalists and other politicians.

But despite Mr Gilberthorpe’s colourful past and the fact he once admitted to a court that he had fabricated stories, it has emerged that the Government’s beleaguered sex abuse inquiry, will consider his claims in order to assess whether there was any cover up at the time.

The panel has already written to Lady Brittan - widow of the former Home Secretary Credit:
Warren Allott

There is mounting concern that the inquiry - which was set up in the wake of unfounded of a paedophile ring operating at the heart of Westminster - will serve as a platform for unproven allegations against high profile figures to be dredged up once again.

An IICSA spokeswoman confirmed that Mr Gilberthorpe’s claims would form part of the hearing and would also feature briefly in the opening statement by its lead counsel, although he would not be called to give evidence.

Mr Gilberthorpe, 57, said: "I just think that for I and others like me to have our say is important.”

The panel has already written to Lady Brittan - widow of the former Home Secretary - informing her that she is likely to be upset by the re-examination of previously discounted allegations against her late husband.

IICSA is also expected to explore a series of unfounded claims against the former Prime Minister, Sir Edward Heath, who died in 2005 and can no longer defend himself.

Harvey Proctor, who has been afforded core participant status for the Westminster strand, said it was increasingly looking as if IICSA would provide a platform for further lies to be spread about those who cannot protect their reputation.

It is not clear if Mr Gilberthope has submitted any material to IICSA, but a statement given to Scotland Yard by the Sunday Mirror journalist who interviewed him in 2014, has been submitted.

A former Tory councillor in Gloucestershire, Mr Gilberthorpe, once tipped himself as a future Prime Minister.

But a series of failed business ventures resulted in him being declared bankrupt.

In 1988 he sued a number of newspapers over a story which alleged he was promiscuous and was suffering from Aids.

He won the initial case, but it was later overturned by the Court of Appeal.